Deep, immobilizing sadness has morphed into sorrowful but determined moving forward for me this week.

So far I’ve celebrated the referendum to add funding to our local schools that passed and a candidate’s being elected in another state who I admire.

I’ve listened as people in marginalized groups have shared their fears about a “climate” change away from tolerance and inclusion toward hate and division. Being part of a panel on aging in different communities www.wpr.org/newsmakers (November 17) reminded me that we’re stronger together when fighting for change.

I’ve read chapters from Sauls’s book: Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation and Fear about befriending people who voted differently from me and the disabled (had to read what the author said about my group. Bottom line: God is in charge, I’m not). Next I’ll read Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia for All That Is by Joan Chittister and Archbishop Rowan Williams. On Twitter the tags of #upyourempathy and #safetypin have got good stuff about making peace these days. To add to the caveats about safety pins, how do blind people know you’re wearing one? Maybe it should be a safety pin with a jingling bell on it!

Also this week we lost a great musician whose lyrics often speak to me, Leonard Cohen. “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” —Leonard Cohen. I feel broken by the election; maybe that can be my prayer that somehow the light will get in my soul and our world.

As Thomas Edison said: “What you are will show in what you do.” I’ve signed up for rooftop solar panels. I’ll generate some of my own energy when the sun shines. It’ll also be my symbolic way of saying I’m with those who believe in trying to do something about climate change, discrimination, alleviating poverty and all those other liberal causes. I’ll try extra hard to be kind to those who believe differently than I do—maybe eventually I’ll feel it.